Cleanliness in context: reconciling hygiene with a modern microbial perspective

Vandegrift, Roo; Bateman, Ashley; Siemens, Kyla; Nguyen, May; Wilson, Hannah; Green, Jessica L.; Wymelenberg, Kevin Van Den; Hickey, Roxana J.

doi:10.1186/s40168-017-0294-2

Cited by 52 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 121 publications

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“…Administrators and building operators should post signage about the effectiveness of handwashing for at least 20 s with soap and hot water, ensure soap dispensers are full, provide access to alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and implement routine surface cleaning protocols to high-touch surfaces where contamination risks are high, such as around sinks and toilets (39). Most importantly, to prevent the transmission of microbes and thus, undesirable pathogens, it is important to exercise proper handwashing hygiene (39,61).…”

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confidence: 99%

2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Built Environment Considerations To Reduce Transmission

et al. 2020

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With the rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that results in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), corporate entities, federal, state, county, and city governments, universities, school districts, places of worship, prisons, health care facilities, assisted living organizations, daycares, homeowners, and other building owners and occupants have an opportunity to reduce the potential for transmission through built environment (BE)-mediated pathways. Over the last decade, substantial research into the presence, abundance, diversity, function, and transmission of microbes in the BE has taken place and revealed common pathogen exchange pathways and mechanisms. In this paper, we synthesize this microbiology of the BE research and the known information about SARS-CoV-2 to provide actionable and achievable guidance to BE decision makers, building operators, and all indoor occupants attempting to minimize infectious disease transmission through environmentally mediated pathways. We believe this information is useful to corporate and public administrators and individuals responsible for building operations and environmental services in their decision-making process about the degree and duration of social-distancing measures during viral epidemics and pandemics.

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confidence: 99%

2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Built Environment Considerations To Reduce Transmission

et al. 2020

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“…This sets up a situation in which the only way to explain the microbial community present on the skin at a given moment is not through asymptotic or stable equilibria (72) , but through transient dynamics of multiple, interacting coalescence events -the current microbial assemblage as the result of the combination of multiple contact events across time, with each microbe acquired having its own particular decay curve, all of which must be considered together to explain any given assemblage. These results have implications for the study of hand hygiene (73) , given that biomass in the source community moderated the ability of skin communities to return to baseline after washing events.…”

Section: Community Coalescence and Non-equilibrium Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Moving microbes: the dynamics of transient microbial residence on human skin

Vandegrift

Fahimipour

Muscarella

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The human skin microbiome interacts intimately with human health, yet the drivers of skin microbiome composition and diversity are not well-understood. The composition of the skin microbiome has been characterized as both highly variable and relatively stable, depending on the time scale under consideration, and it is not clear what role contact with environmental sources of microbes plays in this variability. We experimentally mimicked human skin contact with two common environmental sources of microorganisms -soils and plant leaves -and characterized the dynamics of microbial acquisition and persistence on skin on very short time scales. Repeatable changes in skin community composition following encounters with environmental sources were observed, and these trajectories largely depend on donor community biomass distributions. Changes in composition persisted for at least 24 hours and through a soap and water wash following exposures to relatively high biomass soil communities. In contrast, exposures to lower biomass leaf communities were undetectable after a 24 hour period. Absolute abundances of bacterial taxa in source communities predicted transmission probabilities and residence times, independent of phylogenetic considerations. Our results suggest that variability in the composition of the skin microbiome can be driven by transient encounters with common environmental sources, and that these relatively transient effects can persist when the source is of sufficient biomass. ImportanceHumans come into contact with environmental sources of microbes, such as soil or plants, constantly. Those microbial exposures have been linked to health through training and modulation of the immune system.While much is known about the human skin microbiome, the short term dynamics after a contact event, such as touching soil, have not been well characterized. In this study, we examine what happens after such a contact event, describing trends in microbial transmission to and persistence on the skin. Additionally, we use computational sampling model simulations to interrogate null expectations for these kinds of experiments. This work has broad implications for infection control strategies and therapeutic techniques that rely on modification of the microbiome, such as probiotics and faecal transplantation.

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“…The understanding of the essential role of the homeostasis and dysbiosis of skin microbiota in skin disorders is rapidly expanding, with a major contributory factor being the potentiated awareness of the cutaneous ecosystem (Grice and Segre, 2011). Although there is no consistent definition of a healthy cutaneous ecosystem, some of the main parameters, such as microbial composition, diversity, and stability, have been established as key markers of homeostasis (Vandegrift et al, 2017). Disturbances of the skin microbiota have been directly correlated with multiple diseases.…”

Section: Applications For Ecology-based Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of Human Skin Microbiota in the Cutaneous Disorders for Ecology-Based Therapy

Zhou

Shi

Ren

et al. 2020

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

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The skin represents the exterior interface between the human body with the environment while providing a home to trillions of the commensal microorganisms-collectively referred to as the skin microbiota. These microbes that coexist in an established balance play a pivotal role in the protection of cutaneous health and the orchestration of skin homeostasis. However, the well-controlled but delicate balance can be perturbed by alterations in the skin microbial communities, namely, dysbiosis, often due to commensals defeated by pathogens competing for space and nutrients, which leads to the occurrence of multiple cutaneous disorders. In view of this, the analysis of skin microbiota constituents in skin diseases is crucial for defining the role of commensal microbes and treatment of skin diseases. Emerging evidence shows that the ecology-based therapy of microbial transplantation has been proven as a valid therapeutic strategy for cutaneous disorders caused by skin microbial dysbiosis. Although its mechanism is not well-understood, there are already some applications for ecology-based therapy with the aim of correcting the imbalances on the cutaneous ecosystem. In this review, we summarize the interactions between dysbiosis and the cutaneous disorders, including homeostasis and dysbiosis of skin microbiota, microbial composition in skin diseases, and the mechanisms and applications of reversing or ameliorating the dysbiosis by the targeted manipulation of the skin microbiota, which may contribute to aid development of therapeutic modality for ecology-based therapy.

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Cleanliness in context: reconciling hygiene with a modern microbial perspective

Cited by 52 publications

References 121 publications

2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Built Environment Considerations To Reduce Transmission

2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Built Environment Considerations To Reduce Transmission

Moving microbes: the dynamics of transient microbial residence on human skin

Applications of Human Skin Microbiota in the Cutaneous Disorders for Ecology-Based Therapy

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